2014/03/03

Park gives Japan a March 1 earful

Park gives Japan a March 1 earful

Park Geun-hye. She is the eleventh and current President of South Korea. and first woman to be elected as President in South Korea, and is serving the 18th presidential term. She also is the first woman head of state in modern history of Northeast Asia.

President of south korea, Park Geun-hye joins in singing a song commemorating the uprising on March 1, 1919, against Japan’s colonial rule, during a ceremony Saturday at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul. In response to movement by Tokyo to deny its 1993 apology for forcing women into sexual slavery during World War II, President Park Geun-hye used her March 1 address Saturday to send a strong message to Japan to face up to its history.

“True courage is not denying the past, but looking history square in the face,” said Park in her nationally broadcast address marking the 95th anniversary of the 1919 uprising against Japan’s colonial rule, which lasted from 1910 to 1945.

Referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the president said, “A leader who cannot acknowledge past mistakes cannot open a new future.”

On Friday, the Japanese government’s top spokesman said Tokyo would re-examine the landmark Kono Statement, which acknowledged and apologized for the physical and psychological damage and indignities suffered by the sexual slaves, commonly known by the euphemism “comfort women.”